This picture, found in a Japanese Elementary School, depicts the mushroom cloud which formed when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

It was taken just minutes after the bomb fell, from the location where modern-day Kaita is situated, six miles east of Hiroshima's center. On the back of the photo (click above to see a larger version) is a note which explains that it was taken just two minutes after the blast. There is, however, some dispute over that timing—the Atlantic spoke to an expert who thinks it might've been taken slightly later.

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Regardless of its timing, the photo is still a chilling sight—and an upsetting reminder of the incomprehensible horror inflicted upon the city. [The Atlantic]